GBOB is the biggest opportunity for a band to get on the global music map. From rock to metal, bands from all over the country will be competing to carry the Lebanese flag to the GBOB finals alongside representatives from 35+ countries. RockRing‘s promo events are a mere introduction to some of the bands that would be participating in front of an experienced and musically educated jury as well as the Lebanese fans themselves at the upcoming heats. Some of the bands are first-timers while others are more musically mature when it comes to live shows and original material, and this was evident from the latest promo event this past Saturday at Nova pub, Sin el Fil.
It takes more than individual skill to form a successful band and that was the case with all the bands that night. One band had the virtuoso guitarist while another was centered around a classically trained pianist and one can’t but think of a puzzle concept where you would select a musician from each band and join them to form the best band of the night.
Sadly that’s beyond our imagination so we’re stuck with fragments of bands, playing single progression songs with no regards for the simplest of musical structure such as the verse/chorus/bridge form. I’m sure those kind of details will not be overlooked by the local GBOB jury so bands should consider this as a must before they hit the big stage. I noticed that some of the bands are playing instrumentals as ‘original songs’, and with all do respect to instrumental bands which I personally love, those usually present more than “jam song” looping which I’m sure will not be considered as creative songwriting by the judges.
Regarding the overall attendance and support, it seems like the local fans are waiting for the heat themselves as it was obvious that each band had its own cheer squad as support, which would leave after the band’s performance, leaving Nova to a dozen fans as the last band went on stage. Hopefully such behavior won’t present itself at the heats where everyone should encourage all bands and vote for the best one, as it would be representing all of us on an international level.
Of course, this is only a selection of participating bands but I got my hopes up high since there’s already local talk of “surprises” at the heats, and from what we saw from previous GBOB finals winners, it’s never your average rock band that wins it all, so every band must present something of their own in order to have a chance at the ever so important title and the prizes that come with it. Can’t wait for GBOB to kick off!
